Dear Friends,
We hope this week's devotional will encourage you in your spiritual walk.
You are welcome to share this and include it in your church newsletters if you wish; we just ask that you please give credit to NTC and the author. Thank you!
Luke 14:1, 7-14 (NRSV)
1On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the Sabbath, they were watching him closely.
7 When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host, 9 and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. 11 For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
12 He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers and sisters or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14 And you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
Devotional Thought:
For most people, honour is akin to worth. When someone honours us, we feel valued—and everyone wants to feel valued! But we live in a world where genuine honour appears to be in short supply—a world where we often value things more than people. Still, because we all desire to be honoured, we seek it out. Like the parable above, we believe it is necessary for us to take honour for ourselves, even if that means taking it from someone else. Jesus reminds us that true honour is given rather than taken, and that we should seek to give it generously, especially to those whom society might not necessarily see as valuable. When we honour others, we live out the Great Commandment of loving God and loving neighbour. Furthermore, as we live in this space of love and honour, we discover that our true worth comes from God, and that God is always seeking to honour us because God knows that we are valuable!
Prayer:
Gracious God, help us to see ourselves and others as worthy, loveable, and loved. May we rest in your honour and extend this honour to everyone we come across today. Amen.
Rev. Dr. Rob A. Fringer
NTC Principal